One day Europe woke up and realised that there are risks and challenges posed by globalisation. The opposition against the trade agreements with the United States and with Canada was rising and resulted in demonstrations. This influenced the gradual change in tone.

The European Commission reflection paper of May 2017 on “Harnessing Globalisation” provides the vision on how to respond to these challenges and opportunities of globalisation. But more important is that the Commission acknowledged that globalisation has to be more fair, that it has not only positive but negative effects and these challenges have to be addressed.

It is high time that the benefits of globalisation should be distributed fairer. The response to globalisation can not be to close borders - what I mean is to trade and people – but it should be the implementation and application of rules to put an end to the race on lower wages, poor conditions for employees, social dumping and exploitation. Businesses must stop unfair practices and multinational companies have to be made accountable for evading taxes and bypassing labour law. We have to ensure that when EU companies do business outside the EU they pass on their responsibilities and obligations throughout the supply chain.

We have to reassure our citizens that policymakers retained some measure of control over the forces of globalization that often seem beyond their reach.

And trade is just one aspect of the larger phenomenon of globalisation. Crowds gathering all over the world to watch the UEFA Champions League Final in Kiew, or Australians watching the Eurovision song contest in Lisbon, it is all about globalisation and our interconnected world.

Technologies bring people closer, economies and supply-chains are shifting too. Products are made in multinational companies throughout many countries.

In manufacturing businesses this could be a threat due to automation. But protectionism is an intellectually lazy answer to the challenges posed by globalisation. The closure of borders and protectionism will have a domino effect for all, hurting importers, exporters and consumers.

Therefore our trade agreements help our companies to stay competitive in the world, but in this way we can also contribute to harnessing and shaping globalisation for the better. Our trade deals include commitments for both sides to the highest environmental, health and labour standards. By offering market-access to developing countries they are able to implement much-needed reforms and it forces foreign governments to stop dumping and cheap exports to Europe.

Staying competitive is part of the answer to harness globalisation – especially given around a third of EU countries’ income comes from trade with the rest of the world.

Harnessing globalisation is one of the big challenges currently for international trade but there is no reason to be afraid of globalization because all the policy tools are in our hands. We have just to use them correctly.

We, the EU institutions, have agreed that there is a problem, that requires urgent action and I hope we will figure it out together.